Laurie Talbot Hall

The Dream
pencil
3 x 4.5 in.

Psychological equilibrium is an ongoing accomplishment for women. The focus of my work is the internal emotional experience of women as we navigate our personal and professional spheres. Motherhood, in the sense of raising and nurturing a child, is a profound challenge,an extraordinary and transformative experience. It can also be an experience filled with confusion, doubts and fears. Motherhood demands that you broaden your identity to include responsibilities that promote the welfare of the child. It asks that you model what it means to be a healthy, productive, happy human in a world of physical, emotional and financial stressors. Efforts to achieve balance among relationships, work, love and self-preservation bring additional pressure. Any attained balance can be fragile and fleeting. The tenderness we feel toward our child coexists with daily assaults that surprise and overwhelm us, offering hard lessons of perseverance, acceptance, humility and patience. And yet, mothers endure these conditions, along with the chaos, the vomit, the sleep deprivation and the illogic of the young child. It is seriously funny.

I use photography, printmaking and assemblage to depict feelings that make up the perspective of mother. Each piece is a constructed visual metaphor for an emotional realization. The initial appearance may be soothing, but on inspection there is something disturbing in the imagery, as the darkly comic joins the pathos. Aspects of fantasy, chance and nightmare contribute to the imagery. The works contain references to recognizable settings and everyday objects,with odd juxtapositions reflecting the humor and fear, the irony and essential ambiguity of existence. The artworks are intended to stir a recognition, asking the viewer to honor her own poignant emotions and comic travails as she teaches the next generation how to learn, to grow and to prosper.